FMA: The Brotherhood Diaries - Episode 14

Ani-Gamers staff writer Ink contributes a weekly column in which he examines the differences between the original Fullmetal Alchemist and its re-telling, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. To read previous entries, click here.

Watch Episode 14 - Those Who Lurk Underground

While FMA2 may attempt to lure us into a false sense of familiarity by resuming where it left off, underground in The Devil’s Nest, there’s a lot more sucker-punch behind door number one. Let’s start with a humorous scene involving Al’s resistance to Martel and, separately, Fuhrer King Bradley’s appearance at the Devil’s nest (noticeably all decked-out with 6 blades. Yeah, 6 blades!!!) with a task force from Southern HQ. We can continue with a speedy and vicious fight between Bradley and Greed paralleling a more humorous and darker one between Armstrong and Roa. While the latter isn’t necessarily a departure from FMA1, its theme is. There’s a wonderfully dark moment when, seeing soldiers behind Armstrong (who doesn’t know that they’re there), Roa basically accuses Armstrong of maliciously cutting down a former comrade of the Ishbalan conflict (himself). After this is a great rescue scene, wherein Dolcetto slashes through the aforementioned troops.

Martel’s and Al’s wait in the woods near Dante’s of FMA1 is replaced with their waiting in a sewer while Greed gets diced-up by Bradley, who makes his ultimate self known way earlier and in a much more direct manner than in FMA1. Though, this is still spurred on by Dolcetto’s and Roa’s wish to defend Martel from further harm by staving off the military force (solely embodied by Bradley). There is more fast and furious fighting as Bradley and a regenerated Ultimate Shield go at it like two jealous lovers, which results in Greed’s henchmen being cut apart before his eyes. His henchmen bought the proverbial farm in FMA1 as well, but Greed seemed more human there. Come to think of it, so did Lust and Gluttony, who were responsible for hunting down greed in FMA1.

In a major departure from FMA1, instead of Martel being a passive victim of Bradley’s, she takes control of Al’s arm to strangle him. This results in the same method of death, but with a great difference involving Al’s blood seal and the return of his memories (or at least a trip through certain chain of events). When Al comes to, Ed is trying to snap him out of his daze and Martel has been ripped out from inside of him. After a harsh interrogation of Ed about his relationship with Greed, Bradley sits bedside with Izumi and, tongue-in-cheek, offers her a State Alchemist position. On an animation note, it strikes me that Izumi’s lines are more rounded, less harsh, which suits this FMA2 character well but would have been totally unacceptable in FMA1.

Something that doesn’t happen until way later in FMA1: homunculi reunion!!! FMA2 jumps right on in and has Envy, Lust, Gluttony, and Wrath (played by Bradley instead of FMA1’s island-boy/Izumi-stillborn) meeting together to discuss Wrath’s evaluation of Ed and Izumi as well as to discuss his recent capture of Greed. Just before “Father” melts Greed down into homuncul-wine (thank you), Sloth is revealed as toiling away in a tunnel and most definitely not in the form FMA1 viewers know and heartbreak over. Oh, and “Father?” I’ll give you a hint. Though bleached out by bright light, the animators make sure viewers know he has a full beard, rather pointy in parts, and wears glasses. Next week, it looks like we’re finally spending some time with Scar and on the Ishbalan back-story, which, story-wise, is still in line with FMA1.

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uReview: Halo Wars (360)

Genre: Real Time Strategy
Designer: Amanda Wyatt (Director)
Developer: Ensemble Studios
Publisher: Microsoft
Console: Xbox 360
Release Year: 2009
Rated: M for Mature

The following article was submitted by Ra1don (before he was brought on as a staff member). The opinions expressed below do not represent those of Ani-Gamers or its affiliates.

Ahh, I could still remember that day in 2005, going over to a friend's house to play his special edition copy of Age of Empires III and flipping through an included book. I don't quite remember what was in that book, but I remember on one of the last few pages, there was a picture of two groups of futuristic super soldiers fighting each other in all their splendor. "Wow," I thought, "I have to get this game."

Before I start my review, let's get a little history lesson going on. That picture of the futuristic soldiers duking it out was indeed a very early version of Halo Wars. This game was never really intended to be latched onto the Halo franchise, but rather an Age of Empires IV built exclusively for the console. After attempting to build the game's controls around the game itself for a few years, Ensemble scrapped their work and started over, creating the controls first and building the game around that. It wasn't until 2006 that Microsoft allowed them to use the Halo franchise in an attempt to boost the game's popularity and expose the public to this new vein of RTS games.

The single player campaign of Halo Wars is very much like any other RTS campaign; it slowly brings you through the learning curve by showing you how to control units and build bases until you have to fight off wave after wave of unrelenting enemy forces towards the end of your campaign.

The story is a prequel to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and takes place six years after the fall of the planet Harvest. Many familiar themes come into play; the Prophets stop at nothing to continue the great journey, you go toe-to-toe with Grunts, Elites, Hunters, Jackals, Brutes, and many familiar vehicles, as well as some new ones, and you have to blow up some forerunner technology to save everyone's lives.

The gameplay within the storyline is slightly different from multiplayer or skirmish matches. For one thing, there are some campaign-exclusive units that effectively change battle scenarios throughout the campaign. They usually give you an unfair edge over the enemy and make some missions a cakewalk if you're playing on the "normal" difficulty level. On top of that, in some missions you're given ridiculous amounts of something, like 11 Spartans as opposed to the maximum 3 in multiplayer, 40 Mass Accelerated Cannon rounds, or free drops of fully-upgraded ODSTs.

The hero system within the campaign is different as well, marking Spartans as hero units, as well as your leader. When any of your heroes die, you can revive them as in Age of Empires III by bringing a friendly unit close to them. In the other game modes, heroes just die and they have to be resurrected, and as a balancing issue, UNSC leaders do not actually enter the battle yet act more like the governors in the AOEIII system.

The game's graphics are the best I have ever seen in an RTS. It includes incredibly detailed, slightly different renditions of the characters of Halo to take time difference into account. The sounds within the game are ripped directly from the Halo series, and their quality has been improved to allow for sound cues within battles.

Playing online is incredibly entertaining because each of the six leaders has a different way of playing the game, therefore making an effective six races. Because the game is not as strict as other RTS games such as StarCraft, no two players can play the game the same way. The limitation of how many buildings one can create force a player to specialize in one aspect and utilize it to its full effectiveness.

Ensemble claims that there is a rock-paper-scissors type balancing within the game, but I found that to not be completely true. The game's unique style of play puts strategy over production, and in a battle of ODSTs versus Grizzly tanks (Scorpion tanks with two cannons) a good commander on the ODST side has about as much of a chance of winning as the commander of the Grizzlies.

The largest drawback to playing online isn't caused as much by the game as by player mentality. When I first got Halo Wars, I ran through the tutorial levels, fought some skirmish battles, played online, then played through campaign mode. The average player, however, would play the campaign before they would play online. Because the campaign only covers the UNSC, about two in every three members of the online community play as the UNSC. Regardless, battles still turn out interesting with every player having their own unique strategy, making every battle different.

Overall, Halo Wars is a great game, earning most of that greatness through its uniqueness. Being a veteran of many RTS games, I can comfortably call this one of the simplest – but simultaneously one of the most fun – games I've played. I wouldn't recommend buying it if you don't have access to LIVE, but the skulls and achievements allow for a lot of replay value, as does the ability to create your own scenarios through the skirmish option. Even with LIVE, the $60 price tag seems a little steep, but due to its addictiveness, Halo Wars is definitely too valuable to rent. Chances are, the price won't drop because it is part of the Halo franchise, so do a few odd jobs and the game will pay for itself.

great.

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Impressions: Cowboy Bebop vol.3

The fun continues as I delve further into the classic nineties anime series Cowboy Bebop. In volume 3, I began to notice something very fascinating about Bebop. Of course, it is clear to any first-time viewer that Yoko Kanno's distinctive music pays tribute to a wide variety of musical styles. One episode, titled "Asteroid Blues," will feature the bouncing beats of the blues, while another, titled "Heavy Metal Queen," will showcase rocking metal music. But what really makes Cowboy Bebop fascinating is that is extends this allegiance to a variety of styles, incorporating it into film-making genres as well.

The first episode on the disc, "Toys in the Attic," is pure horror-movie, with its sparse depictions of a mysterious creature that poisons the ship's crew members one by one, until Spike must face it alone. The next two episodes form a distinct arc revolving around the backstory of Spike and his longtime rival Vicious. In this story, titled "Jupiter Jazz," Kanno focuses her attention on the slow, contemplative sounds of jazz, while director Shinichiro Watanabe and writer Keiko Nobumoto create a film-noir narrative full of sin and suffering. Finally, episode fourteen, "Bohemian Rhapsody," imitates the over-the-top pastiche that is Queen's famous song. The kinetic music serves as a strange – but not altogether inappropriate – backdrop to the light-hearted crime drama that unfolds in the plot.

Cowboy Bebop is never formulaic because, despite its name, it is only occasionally about either cowboys or bebop music. Instead, the show blends different styles of music and film to create an entirely new experience in every episode. Such an approach remains groundbreaking to this very day – not just in anime, but in television production in general.

Stop by soon for my continuing analysis and opinions of Cowboy Bebop. I will publish one article for each DVD that I watch, followed by a review of the series as a whole, and possibly even a review of the movie. See you next time!

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